Variazioni
by PottedGerbera
Summary: Despite being orphaned as a young child, Luceska Mangarino has blossomed into a thriving young woman; she is smart, beautiful, and gifted, with a desire for perfection. When a revelation about her background rocks her world, what could possibly become of the girl? Negitoro.


"Bzz...Bzz...Bzz...Bzz...Bzz..."

A groan resonated throughout the room and, shortly after, the buzzing noise was slammed off.

The clock read 7am.

Mangarino Luceska, or simply Luka, was no superhuman; she too had to work like everybody else. The woman had set her alarm at seven in the morning every day in order to prepare for work, which usually took her a good two hours. She was very careful not to leave any detail of her appearance unattended to; every strand of hair had to be meticulously set in place, every flick of her mascara had to be done with precision, and every outfit she owned had to coordinate. There was no room for error in her life.

Not without groaning once more, Luka got out of her bed and headed towards her bathroom, where she performed her daily miracles. Her long hair—surprisingly, a natural pale pink—was beautiful, yet so delicate that she was forced to take proper care of it.

It was never surprising to see her comb her hair two, three, or even more times in a day. She wasn't about to let any tangle ever make its way into her beautiful hair.

Luka lived in a decently-sized apartment located in the suburbs of New York City. For as far back as she could recall, she had never once moved out. The woman had lost her parents in an accident very early on in her life and couldn't remember much about them. The only link to her family that she was aware of was the surprisingly high amount of money that had been deposited in a savings account up, ready and waiting for her on her eighteenth birthday. She had discovered the tremendous amount of money to her name when she attempted to open up a bank account when she became of age. Even though she initially rejoiced in the thought of never having to set foot in a fast food chain just to make some money of her own (who else would take a girl who hadn't graduated high school?), she quickly realised she would still need to work. It wasn't like she wasn't used to grafting to get what she wanted; she had always been at the top of her class throughout her school years, after all.

However, she did have some people she considered family: an elderly couple started taking care of her after her parents passed away in a tragic car accident. Thanks to their care and affection, she had never once felt let down, and, for that, she loved them to no end. She did her very best to show them the extent of her love by occasionally cooking for them when she wasn't so busy with her work.

Luka couldn't stop the smile creeping onto her face when she thought about her two favourite human beings. Kaito used to take the girl on adventure-filled trips, making her search for hints in the mysterious woods—which was actually a large park, but the old man made sure to keep that secret to himself—as if training her to tail someone for information like she was a spy. The girl loved it; she was always able to get to the treasure faster than Kaito anticipated and, for that, he made sure to reward her with a well-deserved hot chocolate at the end of the game. When they would come home, Meiko would have drawn their tiny protégée a hot bath and would help the young girl to clean her hair. Scrubbing her own hair, Luka giggled lowly at the memory while under the running water produced by the shower. Never once did she feel sad about her parents, for she barely remembered them. Kaito and Meiko had played the most crucial role in raising the young girl into the responsible woman that Luka now was.

While Luka wasn't particularly sad, she did wonder who her parents had been, what they had been like, what kind of work they had done, and so on. She'd asked multiple times as a child to her caretakers but neither of them had had a clue. She eventually concluded that it was pointless to dig up pieces of information on her late parents as none of her blood relatives seemed willing to talk to her, not least her biological aunt, who hadn't even done the bare minimum to maintain any sort of relationship with her niece.

Luka was well aware that she had family somewhere and somehow related to her aunt but, in truth, they had been so absent from her life (save for the money deposited on her account) that she did not feel the need to go out of her way to find out more about them, especially now that her life was stable. All she needed was her job, her friends and her caretakers.

Drawing a hand to her cheek, Luka checked her reflection in the mirror. She had dried her hair and had taken care of her make-up. Every part of her appearance was on point as she left the bathroom, proceeding into the living room. A delicious scent had been tickling her nostrils ever since she had left the shower and there was no wondering as to who was responsible for this great teasing. As she rounded the corner into the kitchen, she was met with a radiant smile, stretching from ear to ear, a joyful aura surrounding an old woman.

"Good morning Meiko," said Luka, who reflected the older woman's smile. Gently, she pulled back the chair and slipped into her seat.

"Morning, Honey!" chirped the older woman as she carefully carried a tray filled with assorted home-cooked dishes to the table—Luka's personal favourites. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you. What about you and Kaito?" Luka questioned the older woman absentmindedly as she eyed up the tray of delicious goods that lay before her.

"Oh, we tried to, Honey. You know how it is; our old bodies don't quite work as they used to, but we make do, Kaito and I."

Luka raised her eyes to level with Meiko's, scrutinizing her plainly-smiling face to try and figure what had the woman exactly meant, even though she knew her efforts would be futile. Was this another one of her teasing remarks or was she actually being serious? The girl had given up trying after a short while and resigned herself to sipping on her tea.

"...As per usual, your homemade cooking is fabulous Meiko, thank you," uttered Luka in a lame attempt to clear the thickening air as she took another bite of her croissant. She definitely didn't want Meiko to start rambling about whatever she and Kaito were up to at ungodly hours at night. God, they seemed to be going at it like rabbits! While it may have been a somewhat ageist thought, Luka had assumed they would tone it down a tad in their old age. Did she even want to imagine what they got up to when she was even younger…?

"You're most welcome, Honey." She grabbed Luka's empty mug and placed a crumpet in front of the salivating woman before nodding in the direction of the door. "Kaito's just nipped out to the grocery store, so if you want something specific, send him a message," said Meiko, settling behind the sink.

Meiko and Kaito were both in their sixties; whilst Meiko had just reached the turn of the decade, Kaito was a couple of years older at 64. From what Luka had heard about them, they had somehow always led a rather peaceful life and had been lucky enough to make a small fortune through the amount of work they had both done. When they had been offered the chance of being the caretakers of a young, newly-orphaned girl, the couple immediately accepted without qualms. The thought that no-one from the girl's own family was willing to take her in broke their hearts, and so they devoted themselves to doing their best to provide the girl with the best childhood she could ever imagine. They had quickly moved into the condo provided by the girl's family with nothing but a name to work with and, while they had expected the girl to be distant at first, she had been nothing but welcoming as their lives converged. She had entirely accepted them as her caretakers and, despite her young age, she understood well that she wouldn't see her parents again, albeit not quite realising why.

Sighing in delight at how the crumpet melted in her mouth, Luka was silently thankful that Meiko did not subject her to anymore teasing. Indeed, Meiko tended to be quite relentless when it came to embarrassing the younger woman. It almost seemed as though the older woman had made it her lifelong duty to tease Luka about every single detail of her life. As exhausting as Luka found it sometimes, it never failed to brighten up her mood. She knew very well that Meiko held the utmost affection for her. The only one who would match her in terms of Meiko's affection would have had to be Kaito.

The blue-haired man was Meiko's antithesis: whenever she would hound Luka with teasing remarks, Kaito would always take the girl's side. He always sought to be careful with Luka while teaching her a whole plethora of things in which absolutely nobody could find a hint of relevance (not least Meiko, who often questioned why Luka had developed the habit of climbing up trees to scrutinise the neighbourhood), which the girl adored. Her aptitude for a whole breadth of matters never failed to make his ageing chest swell with pride for the girl he considered to be his own. Despite being quite the delicate man, he was a bit of a perfectionist, and Luka found it easy to believe that her own perfectionist side had emerged because of—or thanks to—Kaito. Not that she really minded, not at all; it helped her to blossom into a young woman who craved success, not to mention allowing her to get the best grades, grades that were never allowed to fall not only by herself but also by the elderly man who tutored her from time to time. Summed up, Meiko was the carefree one, and Kaito the careful one. They completed each other like the pieces of a puzzle.

"I'm sure that you've asked Kaito to bring back some of the best food he can find. Apart from your own, of course, which never fails to amaze me," answered Luka kindly. Her stomach was almost always full due to the amazing food (and an amazing amount of food) that Meiko cooked for their household of three. To Luka, there was no such thing as a bland lunch break; Meiko, always the creative spirit, would often reinvigorate her recipes with a new, Internet-inspired lease of life if the food (the recipes for which she loved to invent herself) begged for a little something more. Each day, Luka loved to see what kind of treasure the woman had left wrapped up in her lunchbox.

"Oh yeah, you're definitely gonna be surprised..." snorted the elderly woman with an impish smirk, at which Luka stared blankly. By this point, was she actually teasing her or simply trying to confuse the poor girl with her farcical remarks? The one thing Luka did know was that she just felt lost, which she shrugged off, with her and Meiko's early morning conversations often invoking that feeling in her. Thankfully, today was no different, which meant that Meiko, despite her mischievous nature, handed Luka her lunch box with her signature grin. The woman quickly stashed it away in her bag, eyeing it with obvious impatience for her lunch break.

"Thank you very much, Meiko. As usual, I appreciate it," thanked Luka, gesturing to the container through her leather work bag as she smiled gratefully. After a pleased hum from Meiko in return, the woman walked to the entrance of the apartment and slid her work heels on. She straightened her lapel one last time before smoothing out a stray hair in the entrance's mirror. Satisfied with her appearance, she pulled open the door and headed out to her job.

Today was a radiant day and the sun made sure to blind Luka as she went through the sliding doors of her building. Beautiful days were probably the woman's favourites because it meant she could walk to her job in peaceful serenity—as close to peaceful serenity as the streets of NYC could be—bathing in the sun and relaxing before she would have to give it all up upon reaching the concrete walls of her workplace. Thankfully, the woman didn't live too far away from her job; only a few kilometres separated her apartment from her work building. It usually took her a good hour to get there by walking and commuting, a way that, while lengthy, she did enjoy. On her path to the subway station, she would often see neighbours who greeted her warmly and whom she naturally greeted back. Most people in the neighbourhood liked her, for she was a respectful woman who always made it her duty to be as helpful as possible, especially when it came to small (but kind) acts such as helping an old lady to carry her groceries. On the other hand, taking the subway was something that wasn't as peaceful; the trains were always rather crowded and, while she enjoyed observing people, it was quite common for her to be touched in improper ways. Thankfully, the one class of self-defence skills she'd taken proved useful, especially when the situation called for grabbing the offender's wrist and twisting it in a nasty way. She had no remorse whatsoever for such people. She strongly believed that they should be locked somewhere forever for them to maybe grasp an understanding of their actions. Surprisingly, she found herself to be twisting quite a lot of wrists, but she never cared to look back at who the person was, no matter if they were male or female. Her body was her own and nobody dared to defile it without her consent.

Consent was everything in Luka's life, especially when it came to her relationships. The woman was pretty sure at this stage of her life that she had never felt attracted to any men, which would explain why she had only ever dated women. While she had been in quite a number of relationships, none of them had truly lasted long; most of her ex-girlfriends would do something at some point that Luka didn't consent to, and, as soon as they tried to convince her otherwise, the woman simply broke up with them. When she thought about it, Luka felt that every time, she could find something, anything that would be a sufficient reason to break up. She disliked the clingy type, the overprotective type, the needy type, the too-touchy type, the way-too-talkative-you-want-to-lock-yourself-away type... Luka herself was the overly-picky type. Even with her (very) particular preferences, Luka enjoyed dating every once in a while. She was pretty convinced that she had felt attracted to most of her partners, but she was sure that she had never, ever genuinely loved any of them. She had never felt any particular thrill or a cage of butterflies in her stomach while pursuing a partner, which led her to conclude that such situations were fictional, only to be found in books, movies and television shows. What she profoundly disliked when it came to dating was the permanent need of some partners to always be together, despite her thorough explanations that she had to work and rest; whenever she mentioned rest, they would assume that resting meant sweet time together, but Luka often needed time alone, which they didn't understand. With some of her previous partners, however, she did form a meaningful relationship and, even when they inevitably broke up, they had managed to stay friends.

Luka's most trusted friend—for she was unsure whether to call her a best friend—was a sweet (but quite hyperactive) woman who happened to be her coworker. Her name, Ruby, suited the sparkling colour of her eyes very well. Her hair, coloured a pink very similar to Luka's own, was a dishevelled, untamed mane most days. Luka used to enjoy running her hands through the pale locks when they were dating and—even though they weren't together anymore, Ruby having since found a new girlfriend—Luka continued to do so from time to time when they were enjoying time together. The women were quite close, and, while their personalities were nothing alike, Ruby had always been a welcomed presence in her life. Working alongside her always proved to be interesting as well, for the woman cracked a joke at the most random of moments and always managed to ease the tensest atmosphere in the office.

Finally, after an hour's commute, Luka reached her workplace and signed in at the front desk. She entered the lift and pressed the button that would take her up to her shared office, her eyes politely directed at the point of her shoes as she travelled. Hearing the familiar chime, she strutted through the corridor and into the room as elegant as ever before slipping into her leather armchair with a sigh. Luka was perfectly on time, as she always was; her co-worker—as to be expected—was late, not that it surprised her. Luka was quite sure that the older woman held the record for tardiness across the entire building.

Luka had always made it her duty to be punctual but never too early; she disliked wasting time. On many levels, the woman was very adamant on managing her time to the minute; going as far as to schedule to the second would be quite the crazy achievement, one that Luka had not unlocked yet in her life. Luka was frugal with both her time and her money too; not that she was greedy, but she was never one to turn down a discount, and she would usually choose the cheaper solution over a more convenient (and expensive) one. That in itself explained why the woman never took any Uber rides to work, even though she was largely able to afford it.

Just before her life had truly started, Luka had been very lucky to be offered a golden opportunity. Indeed, she had always had a talent for math and thus decided to send her résumé to a well-known accountancy firm that was accepting new recruits. Luka passed the series of aptitude and psychometric tests with ease and was selected for an interview then and there, a rare feat. She proved to the company to be particularly confident and in no way shy about selling herself. She completely wooed the interviewers and, in that same week, had officially started her training in accountancy. It didn't take long for Luka to start climbing the corporate ladder, offered raises and promotions at an uncanny rate. She was now earning enough money to be able to spend without really sparing too much thought, not that she did it. Ruby was always telling her fellow coworker how impressive her progression was and how it had taken her a few more years to get to the same stage, being four years Luka's senior at 28.

As Luka opened up a spreadsheet, the door of the office, which she had carefully nudged shut when she came in, suddenly came swinging open in a crash, smashing against the wall, accompanied by a series of ragged pants. The woman's trained ears could already pick up some muffled swears as the racket subsided.

"Hello to you too, Ruby," started Luka, suppressing a smirk as the other woman tumbled into the office, a hand combing through her dishevelled red hair. "Crashing entrance you're making today."

"Bloody hell, Luka. You've got no fucking idea what just happened to me right now. Mate, it was messed as fuck!" answered Ruby in a faux-British accent as dramatic as her entrance. As per usual, Ruby's language was not the most formal in the room, but Luka didn't mind; she had to admit that she was used to it from her friend, even if she never talked like that herself. Sure, she had almost let slip the odd curse word every now and then, but the occasions were so few and far between that the only thing that could elicit such a reaction would probably be the discovery of some kind of dead body. Luka merely chuckled at the absurdity of the thought, which was soon discarded in a corner of her mind.

"I don't know what happened, but I don't doubt for a second that you won't tell me," answered Luka in a casual voice while watching Ruby hang her coat on the back of her desk chair before plopping herself down in a huff. The woman was always so quick in her movements that it wasn't unusual for her to topple piles of important files onto the floor, promptly followed by her mug of coffee, ruining a dozen of sheets that both girls had been working on. The first time it happened, Luka decided to give the girl the benefit of the doubt, brushing off the event as an unfortunate accident; but, by the fourth spillage within a month, Luka concluded it would be worth the investment in an external hard drive on which she could store scanned versions of all her files electronically, without the threat of Ruby's recurrent clumsiness looming over her. Even then, she made sure to create keep a photocopy of each document in her filing cabinet, just in case the hard drive failed (or Ruby somehow managed to break that too). To Luka, drastic measures were a necessity in the case of unpredictable events.

"Gods," she sighed. "I know I'm always late but this time I swear I left ten minutes early but the freakin' subway train broke down out of nowhere and then all the electricity went out and we were left sitting there in the dark thinking 'what the actual fuck' and then some random guy pulled out a bottle of whiskey and a strobe light from God knows where and started screaming about—"

"Ruby, slow down," interrupted Luka, making eye contact in an attempt to calm the excited woman. "I can't follow what you're saying if you ramble."

As requested, Ruby paused, taking in a steady stream of air, and exhaled slowly. "So yeah. We—a subway car full of annoyed commuters united in the throes of rush hour—were sat there in the dark for what felt like literally hours while that guy with the booze yelled about how the mafia was coming to murder his family. I've got no idea what that journey was, dude," finished Ruby, this time taking regular breaths as she recounted her morning commute.

Raising an eyebrow at the tale, Luka nodded slowly and turned back to her work. "Are you it wasn't a dream? Knowing you…" deadpanned Luka as she typed away on her computer. Ruby piped up, making defensive sounds, and Luka's poker face melted into gentle giggles as she apologised to the older woman.

"No, but seriously, it was hella weird. People started freaking out and so I started freaking out too, because I'm, like, empathetic. Or maybe I'm just pathetic. Whatever the hell I am, this is the first time I'm glad to be at work." Ruby punctuated the end of her narrative with two dual-handed waves, before slouching back into her chair and staring at the rotating ceiling fan. After a few minutes of empty silence, she begrudgingly started on some work too, only pausing once or twice to try and persuade Luka to bunk off work and take a cheap flight to the other side of the country with her.

At noon, Luka and Ruby took their lunch break. As per usual, Ruby ogled Luka's pale hand as she unwrapped the unknown meal Meiko had prepared for her in the morning. Luka made sure to be a tease about it, picking at the aluminium wrapping almost seductively, dragging it out as much as she could. She indulged in the guilty pleasure of making the older woman sit through the torture of anticipation, letting the savoury scent of delicious, mouth-watering food drift out of the box in moreish traces. Indeed, Luka was rather patient and situations that could have her turn sour or angry were rare—whatever would happen, Luka's rational mind would keep her mindful of the realistic outcomes of the event, no matter how bad it seemed at face value.

Eventually lifting the lid of her lunch box, Luka and Ruby found one of Luka's favourite dishes ever when it came to Meiko's specialities: pierogi. If Luka had to choose which kind of dumpling she loved the most, she would, without any hesitation, answer pierogi, which, when she thought about it, was rather paradoxical in itself, since her last name would immediately lead one to assume that she had a penchant for ravioli. She had no doubt that the Poles (or whichever Slavic country had originally invented those little clouds of heaven, but that was a matter Luka would gladly get into another time) were geniuses for inventing them. Furthermore, following the ideology that Poles were geniuses by nature, then Meiko and Kaito's general greatness was to be expected, given they had Polish roots.

Nomming on her hearty sauerkraut and mushroom-filled pierogi, Luka wondered where her ancestors were from. Given her last name, it wouldn't be a surprise if, one day, a long-lost secret brother of hers appeared in front of her house, uttering 'Ciao, Bellissima' before moaning a string of foreign words that could well be different types of pasta for all Luka knew. An ungraceful snort escaped Luka's nose amidst her thoughts, setting her off into a coughing fit as she attempted to cover her laugh. Ruby eyed the woman suspiciously but quickly dismissed the event, placing a bottle of water on her desk. As surprising as it was, Luka often got lost in her thoughts, most probably because she had way too many of them. Her brain was always deconstructing, analysing, and rebuilding the world around her whether Luka wanted it to or not. She was an observer; little to no detail could escape her trained eyes. Kaito's tracking games were probably responsible for cultivating her attentiveness, now that she thought about it.

Luka found that being attentive, even when lost in thought, proved an invaluable skill when faced with a super-duper ditsy colleague that could trip on thin air towards you with a hot mug of steaming coffee in their hand at any given moment. Without skipping a beat, Luka side-stepped, watching from up above as Ruby sprawled in a miserable heap on the stained carpet. As composed as one could be as an observer to such a situation, Luka felt the laughter bubble up her stomach, and she bit her bottom lip very hard. She knew very well that she shouldn't be laughing at this…but, really, could she resist? Barely. Kneeling next to her friend, she helped the girl back up onto her feet, teasing her all the while as they made their way back to their office, Luka hiding a smile with a loose fist as she watched the other woman press the lift button violently, a pair of coffee-stained stilettos hanging from her wrist. What would Luka do without her personal permanent distraction? She really couldn't fathom a life worth living without her best friend in it.

Upon reaching their workspace, Luka slipped effortlessly back into the work mindset as Ruby went to dry off her (previously white) shirt. After a solid hour of work, Luka's desk phone chimed, and she pressed the speaker button, greeting the person on the other side politely. To Luka's surprise, the boss' secretary greeted her, and Luka raised an eyebrow to Ruby, who had recognised the voice. The secretary told her she was to go to her boss' office immediately then promptly hanging up. Cutting off the line, Luka gave Ruby a look of concern, to which Ruby replied with an exasperated eye roll and a mocking sigh, before getting up and wheeling Luka's chair over to the door.

"Don't give me those eyes, you bullshitter. You know full well that you're not in trouble. Bet he's gonna give you a promotion or something, you watch." With that, Ruby pushed the other girl out of the office and slammed the door shut. Blinking, Luka's eyes fell to the ground, and she made her way towards her boss' office, rapping her knuckles against the door thrice to signal her presence. After being answered with a low 'come in', Luka pushed the door and walked to the front of the wide, oak desk.

"Miss Mangarino!" greeted the older man, shaking her hand firmly. "There's no need to stand. Please, take a seat!" Luka deduced from the tone of his voice that she was not in trouble, and so she allowed herself to take the man's offer to slip into the comfortable leather seat.

"I am sure you are aware of the reason of your presence here today, Miss Mangarino!" continued the man intently. The truth was that Luka hadn't the faintest idea as to why her boss—whom she rarely saw—would call her personally to his office. Of course, Luka always tried to pull out all the stops as she worked, but she tried to do it in a discreet manner, not wanting to be bothered or be a bother herself (the only exception to that rule was Ruby, who always enjoyed a good distraction from her work). Granted, with the vibe the man was giving, it couldn't have been for anything negative...but it wasn't like she was about to be pro—

"I want to promote you, Miss Mangarino. Your work has been the best our company has ever seen, especially given your level of experience, and we consider it almost criminal to limit you and your expansive talent for accountancy to such a low-standing position. We want you to take the lead of a team of your choice, as opposed to being led by someone who certainly appears to be less competent than you are in practice. I hope you consider the offer, Miss Mangarino."

For a few seconds, Luka stared blankly at the man in front of her. Surely, she must have misheard him? Maybe he had meant to tell her that she was to be assigned to a new team... Soon, the boss slid a crisp piece of white paper over to her, his grin wide as he gestured towards the black ink. Everything was signed on the contractor's part. All that was needed to make the slip of paper whole was a swish of Luka's pen...

She finally broke out of her stupor. "...I would be most honoured," she replied, taking her favourite pen out of her breast pocket as the man's face split into two with his smile. Delicately, she picked up the fresh document and read it over fully, paying attention to the small details. She found herself nodding in approval, the new contract giving her some extra perks (they would pay for her gym membership, which looked appealing) in addition to a more prestigious role within the company. Satisfied, she leaned over to append her signature at the bottom of the document, officiating her approval of the new contract between her employer and herself.

After a congratulatory remark, they exchanged a few more words, most notably on how she would have to change office and establish a list of the names of the employees she wanted on her team, and also about how they were allowing her a few days off while her stuff was being transferred to her new, personal office. Following the quick discussion, Luka left the office, a copy of the contract in one hand and her pen in the other, still wondering what the hell had just happened.

Before long, she was back in her office, and she immediately smashed the document on Ruby's desk.

"I got promoted!" exclaimed Luka in a louder voice than usual, excitement dripping from her words. Ruby slowly turned her head to Luka, her jaw slowly dropping to the floor, her eyes almost bursting out of their sockets.

"You…" started Ruby, setting down her pen gently as she crinkled the white paper in her grip. Ruby's gaze switched frantically between the paper, to Luka, and then back to the paper.

Luka nodded, her eyes alight with barely contained excitement at the thought of her future.

"Dude. You've been here for less time than me, but you're already moving on up! That's damn amazing!" Ruby pounced onto the other woman, who prepared herself for the crushing bear hug she could see coming. "Oh my god, way to go girl!" continued Ruby in a fit of elation. Ruby was happy: there was no jealousy, no envy, nothing besides happiness for her friend's promotion, which could even exceed her own level of excitement. This girl was worth more than a diamond.

Wrapping her arms around the other girl, Luka laughed in delight. "We need to celebrate!" she decided happily. "Oh Lord, I can't believe it. Let's go get something to drink this evening!"

Breaking apart from her, Ruby gave her a dejected look and shook her head in reply. "I'm so sorry, Luka, but I can't today. I've already promised to spend time with someone else today, but tomorrow? We'll definitely do something tomorrow!"

Not letting herself be saddened by Ruby's request for a rain check, Luka nodded and settled back in front of her desk to finish her remaining couple hours of work. She had been granted a few days off, but that didn't mean she was about to go home early, dropping all her current work simply because she had just earned a promotion. But, as the hours crawled by, Luka couldn't help but wonder what her new office—her very own office—would look like. Losing herself on that train of thought made her realise that she had completely forgotten to ask her friend whether she wanted to be in Luka's yet-to-be-constituted accountancy team.

"Ruby, I forgot to ask...would you want to work under my supervision? The boss asked me to compile a list of employees I would like to supervise," asked Luka while she continued to type on her keyboard.

"Hey, Luka, watch this." Luka craned her neck and was met with a measly scrap of paper slapping her cheek. Sighing, she peeled the paper from her cheek, chuckling at Ruby's proud giggles. It had 'Mangarino's Magnificent Dream Team' emblazoned across the top in bubble writing, with Ruby's name scrawled underneath in bright pink gel pen. Luka snorted and lost herself in a fit of laughter. Of course, Ruby had known what she would have to do and had already put her name at the top of a list that she had taken upon herself to make. Luka felt better; after Ruby turned down her offer down for drinks, Luka had felt the dejection sink to the pit of her stomach. She had wanted to share this moment with her closest friend, but it couldn't be helped if the woman had already scheduled to meet someone else. Ruby had probably promised to go somewhere with her girlfriend, after all.

Eventually, 4pm rolled around, and Luka leaned back in her seat, stretching her body and moaning at the feeling of her sore back muscles being eased by the movements. Noticing that Ruby wasn't quite done yet, the woman raised an eyebrow at the sight but decided to take her leave anyway, signing out at reception and heading out hastily, hoping that catching the last train before rush hour would cut down the hour-long trip back home.

Luka still couldn't believe it; tomorrow, she didn't have to wake up early or go to work! The woman suddenly gasped. That was another thing she had completely forgotten to tell Ruby! Taking her phone out of her bag, she opened up her contacts and tapped Ruby's name, texting her that she had the rest of the week off. The thought of having small holidays without actually have to ask her boss for them made her smile. She'd have time to catch up on her rest in these days, and she wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste. The woman could already picture herself going to a spa and letting all the pent-up tension in her muscles—accumulated by hours and hours of sitting hunched over a desk—melt into a pool of welcoming warm water. She could cook some meals for Meiko and Kaito and hang out with them too, maybe on a trip to another city, or perhaps some museums in the city centre as she was pretty sure she would be able to find somewhere they hadn't yet visited. And, of course, she would make sure to go out for a drink with Ruby tomorrow and get way too drunk in celebration of her promotion. Oh, how long had it been since she had last drank without sparing a thought to her blood alcohol concentration! Luka was most certainly not much of an alcohol lover, but she did enjoy partying every once in a while, despite preferring a calm atmosphere most of the time.

Still, Luka had to wonder: in her years of work, she had not once left work before Ruby. It had been the first time ever. The older woman was known to leave a few minutes before her official sign-out time, which was probably one of the reasons why she had yet to be granted a promotion herself. Hard-working Luka was one to mumble to no-one in particular and rack her brain for ideas until she could finish tasks she had started. On rare occasions, her supervisor had even asked—much to Luka's annoyance—that the woman return home and relax, and then finish what she started the next day. Luka didn't enjoy putting off work, but the hard truth was that she simply had to, sometimes.

Luka finally reached her apartment building and walked through the lobby, nodding at the security guard posted near the desk, and headed towards the elevator. Behind her, she could hear some light footfall, but paid it no attention; while the building was relatively lightly populated, someone was bound to come in at the same time as her. She was, however, surprised to not receive a hurried request for her to hold the door open—most of the people living in her building were old and rich, after all, and much preferred the luxury of lifts as opposed to the physical, demanding nature of stairs.

She reached her floor and walked out of the elevator, watching her feet as she neared her door. Acting on instinct, she jutted her key into the lock, expecting the telltale click as it unlocked, only to have the key stop turning. Luka paused as she removed the key from the door. Why was it already unlocked? It seemed like a lot of odd things were happening in a row and Luka felt the first traces of suspicion take root in her chest. It was quite uncommon that someone would walk into the building, but not take the elevator up to their floor; even more uncommon was that the door to the condo was left unlocked. Meiko and Kaito had always been very adamant on keeping it locked—even when they were inside—for 'safety's sake', as they had reiterated throughout Luka's life.

"...I'm home!" announced Luka, just in case. If anyone or anything unusual was happening, it would be better to let whoever was plotting it know that the condo wasn't empty anymore.

"Oh!" came a shout from behind the door, which swung open abruptly, revealing a blue head of hair. "Luka dear! You're back early...but welcome home!" answered Kaito, rushing through the doorway and squashing the girl in a great hug, which the girl returned most awkwardly. This certainly was not normal.

"Good afternoon Kaito. How are you doing?" said Luka in return, patting his back and slowly entangling herself. She removed her shoes and then her coat, hanging it in the entrance before taking two steps into the hallway. Kaito suddenly decided to break out into an impromptu stretch session, reaching across the entire width of the corridor.

"Oh yes, good, I'm good." He yawned, stretching out even more, but this time into the sky. "But yeah, it's been an exhausting day, doing so much work and moving around so much—"

When an audible cough came from the living room, Kaito closed his mouth and offered a strange smile to Luka, who was still trying to advance into the apartment. Soon after, a sigh came again from the living room, followed by Meiko bounding out to give Luka a big hug.

"Sorry about that, Honey!" apologised the older woman, stroking the girl's pink hair. "You know how awkward Kaito can be." Luka raised an eyebrow, returning the hug once more and allowing herself to melt into the arms of her caretaker.

"It's alright," Luka reassured. "I just found it odd that you would leave the door unlocked, is all," uttered Luka in return, her voice muffled by brown hair.

Luka felt a big gulp just before she was pushed away, Meiko's arms retreating behind her back. "Ah! Yes! About that, Honey, Kaito forgot to buy the milk, so can you go out and get some?" Mocking mumbles came from Kaito's direction after Meiko gave her request, and Luka giggled lightheartedly at the noise.

"I'll go, but after I've changed out of these clothes?" With a nod of approval from Meiko, Luka once again untangled herself from the woman and proceeded to her room, changing into more comfortable clothes. It was still near the start of the year, and, as sunny as it was, the cold wind was still nippy, and so warm, comfy clothes were still in high demand. When passing by the living room, Luka noticed the number 25 peeking out from behind the kitchen counter, coating in a variety of coloured glitter and sequins. She glanced at Meiko and Kaito—they seemed distracted enough, Meiko seemingly berating the man for something— before slipping into the room. She immediately noticed all sorts of decorations jutting out from behind the sofa and beneath the coffee table, which looked like they had been hastily pushed out of sight.

A smile made its way to her lips as she headed back towards the doorway, her heart swollen with love. What had she done to deserve these adorable people? She must've been blessed by the gods at birth. She fought the urge to run back to the living room and crush the old couple in a hug as awkwardly as they had hugged her when she got back from work, instead announcing her exit in a clear voice before stepping out of the condo.

When she turned towards the hallway, she noticed a pink mane swish behind the closing elevator doors. The girl's smile only widened further, the pieces fitting into place in her mind. She was really lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing individuals. What more could she ask for?

Walking through the lobby (exchanging an awkward nod with the security guard, who waved back at her), she exited through the sliding doors of her building for the second time that day.

Thankfully, the shop was not too far away, so Luka decided to take her time in choosing the milk to allow the party to be truly ready for her when she would come back. She would be sure to act surprised and envelope them all in hugs of love and gratitude. After spending a good twenty minutes wondering what she did to deserve such a good group of people in her life, Luka exited the shop, a carton of milk in each hand.

She walked back home slowly, humming clouds of steam into the winter air as she dragged out her stroll home. It would be better for the people she now considered to be family to do things as well as they'd planned to.

Luka felt a light squeeze on her shoulder and turned around. Only the gentle yellow light from the streetlamps greeted her. She must have had imagined the sensation. Shaking it off, she admitted that she was probably in desperate need of one of those days off her boss had given her. The thought of her promotion bought back that bubbly feeling, and she shivered, but not from the cold.

She turned back around and resumed walking home, picking up her pace slightly. This evening would be a surprise, she knew that for sure. She had a gut feeling that today marked the start of her new life. How often is it that people get offered such an amazing opportunity for career progression? She knew that she deserved it; pay raises were nice, but they were no substitute for a good change in job role, especially to one that would provide so much scope for skills development and success, nor was it like Luka would ever find it within herself to blatantly ask for the job. Today was the day Luka was going to start smashing life with an iron fist, starting with the development of her leadership skills.

Suddenly, she felt someone pin her arms against her torso from behind, before smothering her nose and mouth with a damp white rag. Her eyes widened, and Luka suspended her breath in her lungs as she felt the adrenaline start to course through her veins. She tried pushing, kicking, elbowing her assailant as hard as she could as she tried to escape. She had to get back. They were waiting for her return. She kicked again, aiming for her attacker's shins like she had been taught to in her self-defence class, but it was futile. Her limbs were screaming for oxygen, and Luka involuntarily inhaled sharply. She continued to fight back, but it was in vain, her muscles falling weaker and weaker with every futile hit. Within seconds, her vision started to fade, and her body felt heavier and heavier. She tried to stop her eyes falling shut but, her eyelids felt as though they were made of lead and fluttered shut. As she fell into oblivion, she heard a low voice whisper three words into her left ear.

"Happy birthday, Luceska."

* * *

 **A/N:** _Variazioni_ is written by PottedGerbera, the joint account of TremendouslyMental and Yain, who are Negitoro authors on this site. We hope you enjoy this fic, which we have started to write in commemoration of Luka's 10th birthday. Happy birthday Luka! :D


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